Participatory Video in Agrifood Systems and Digital Environments: A Practitioner's Guide

"The participatory video process requires taking into consideration, from the start, the characteristics of the intended audience, respecting their perception, language and culture, as well as identifying the most suitable option for sharing the video - whether it be online or offline."

This field practitioners' guide provides step-by-step guidance for creating and using participatory video to advance sustainable agrifood systems. It is intended for use by communication practitioners, farmer and civil society organisations, field workers, extension services, farmer field schools, and innovation brokers. It can be used to orient training events or as a standalone resource for self-learning. In particular, the guide is designed to enable users to understand how to produce and share participatory video as well as how to use it to promote change in rural environments. It explains how to use video to promote dialogue and engagement and to share knowledge and information, using the right e-platforms, tools, methods, and practices to display video content and incorporate it in development processes and initiatives. The guide also touches upon the technicalities of video production, including framing shots, devising sequences, following shooting protocols, and applying editing techniques.

The guide is intended to be used within a communication for development (ComDev) process, which is described in the guide as combining "a range of participatory methods and communication tools to address the knowledge and information needs of rural stakeholders, and to facilitate their active involvement in development initiatives. Stakeholder engagement is required at every stage of the development process (FAO, 2014a). Video production and sharing is part of the ComDev process." 

Participatory video is defined as "a communication approach to video production and sharing in which community members and stakeholders actively participate in the planning, creation and dissemination of video content. This process empowers individuals and groups to share their knowledge, perspectives, experiences and concerns using the medium of video to raise awareness, advocate for change or document their own stories and realities. It is instrumental in fostering collaborative change."

The guide consists of the following chapters:

Chapter 1. Using participatory video in development: clarifies the context in which video can be used as one of the most efficient communication media to facilitate participatory processes within social and productive environments. It establishes the role of video and explains how it is linked to different ComDev strategies and approaches. 

Chapter 2. Participatory video production process: delves into participatory video production: the basic rules and techniques to be followed to create an audiovisual narrative that is perceived as a smooth and continuous message, without communication "noise" resulting from mismanagement of the audiovisual language. It looks at the production process, content development and scriptwriting, storyboarding, shooting in the field, and the editing process. 

Chapter 3. Sharing participatory video: addresses the participatory video sharing process. It describes different ways video can be shared: offline and online, in groups and individually. It also describes the different roles of the facilitators and key aspects to be taken into consideration when organising video-sharing events.

Chapter 4. Basic equipment and settings for producing and sharing video: provides basic information about the technical characteristics of video tools and equipment. It also offers recommendations regarding the conditions for video recording.

Chapter 5. Recommended exercises: presents exercises and activities users can carry out to improve their skills: in the use of instruments; in planning, scriptwriting, shooting, and editing; and in sharing the final audiovisual product.